What happened
A fire broke out on the morning of Saturday, 17 October 2026 at the Tuptup resort in Inani, a beach area in the Cox's Bazar district of southeast Bangladesh. Reports spell the name several ways, including Tuptup Restro & Resort, Tuptup Resto and Resort and Tup Tup Resort. The resort stood beside the Marine Drive coastal road close to Inani Beach and offered rooms with views of the sea and the surrounding hills. Syed Mohammad Morshed Hossain, deputy assistant director of the Fire Service and Civil Defence in Cox's Bazar, said the flames raced through the three-storey wooden building until it was almost entirely burned away.
Death toll and victims
At least ten people have died, and children are among them. Europa Press, The Independent and RMF24 all carry the figure of ten, while an earlier BBC Bangla update put the number of dead at six. Dolon Acharya, a fire and civil defence official, said firefighters had recovered charred bodies from inside the complex. Europa Press, citing the fire service spokesman Talha Bin Jasim, lists five women and a five-year-old boy among the dead, but the sources do not yet give a full breakdown of all ten deaths. The spokesman warned that the toll could rise because two areas of the complex had not yet been inspected. He also said firefighters had recovered six bodies from different rooms and four more from a bathroom, and that some were burnt beyond recognition. Most of the guests had travelled from Dhaka, the capital.
Injuries and response
The injury count differs between sources. Europa Press reports four people receiving treatment at Sadar Hospital in Cox's Bazar, some with burns and others hurt while trying to escape the building. RMF24 reports at least six injured. Panna Akter, the upazila executive officer of Ukhiya, told BBC Bangla that six people had been taken to hospital and that rescue work was still under way. Neighbours carried some of the injured to hospitals before authorities could establish how many people had been hurt. The fire service received the first report at about 7:23 local time, according to BBC Bangla, and two units from the Ukhiya station reached the site around 8:00. BBC Bangla says the fire was brought under control around 8:15, while Notícias ao Minuto puts the end of the blaze about an hour after it started.
- Fire service receives first report of a blaze at the Tuptup resort
- Two fire units from the Ukhiya station reach the resort
- Fire is brought under control, according to BBC Bangla
Cause and background
The cause of the fire has not been established. Building fires are frequent in Bangladesh, which sources link to recurring gaps in enforcement of safety rules. Cox's Bazar has hundreds of hotels and resorts along a long beach that is considered one of the longest in the world. The resort's wooden construction and the speed of the spread are the details the fire service has described so far, and officials have not yet said whether any inquiry will follow.